Assigning Heir Contacts Across Multiple Storage Sites

When reserves sit in a home safe, a bank vault, and a relative’s residence, heirs need to know who is responsible for each site — not just where things are stored.

We use a heir contact assignment sheet at the front of every folder. Each row lists a storage location, the designated heir or trustee, their phone number, and whether they hold a physical key or access credential for that site alone.

Assigning one person to everything creates a bottleneck. Assigning too many people to one site creates confusion during an emergency. Our rule of thumb: one primary contact and one backup per location, never more than two.

For international families, we note time zone and preferred contact method. A heir in Vancouver cannot respond to a midnight call from Seoul unless they know they are the designated contact for the Seoul deposit box.

Reassignment happens during folder update sessions. We print a new assignment sheet, archive the old one in a sealed appendix, and note the change date on the table of contents. Clients should not hand-edit heir assignments without a formal update — unsigned changes create legal ambiguity that trustees have flagged in past reviews.

Children under 18 should not appear as primary contacts. We note them as future assignees with a date or condition (e.g., “assign upon reaching age 21”) rather than listing them as active contacts today.